Unaccompanied Minors

We know that letting your child fly alone can be worrisome, for both parent and traveller. That’s why we’ve developed our Unaccompanied Minors service for children travelling with Emirates. We will do our best to ensure your child will enjoy a smooth and stress-free journey from start to finish with our friendly, helpful staff.

Who is eligible

Unaccompanied Minors are children above 5 and under 12 years of age travelling alone, and are entitled to Unaccompanied Minors service, as long as they are travelling on a full adult fare ticket.

Please note that children under 5 are not accepted for the Unaccompanied Minors service.

For the purposes of fares, any passenger aged 12 or over is considered an adult. However, passengers between the ages of 12 and 17 are not eligible to accompany Unaccompanied Minors in the absence of a passenger who is 18 years or older. In such cases, the adult fare would be applicable for both passengers, including the child. Please contact your local Emirates office to arrange these bookings.

Please note that children under 8 years of age, travelling in a different cabin class to their parents, are considered Unaccompanied Minors and pay the full adult fare. When there are children both over and under the age of 8 travelling together, with their parents in a different cabin class, then all the children are considered Unaccompanied Minors and the adult fare would be applicable for all. Passengers are reminded that visits between cabins should be kept to a minimum.

Young Passengers are children from 12 years of age up to, but not including, their 16th birthday. Young Passengers are entitled to Unaccompanied Minors service if specifically requested by the parent or guardian.

What’s included

At the time of booking, just let us know what kind of seat and meal your child prefers and we will be pleased to make the arrangements. We’ll even prepare a cake if your child is travelling on his or her birthday.

For children travelling alone, we provide separate check-in facilities on departure, with dedicated Emirates staff to accompany them to the aircraft. Parents or guardians must present the child for check-in at least two hours prior departure.

Unaccompanied Minors and Young Passengers are always boarded before other passengers, so that the cabin crew can seat them and stow their hand baggage.

Upon special request, we’ll be happy to take Polaroid photographs of your child on board the aircraft, as time permits.

On arrival, an Emirates employee will meet all unaccompanied children at the aircraft door and help them through formalities before handing them over to their designated guardian.

Conditions and other information

If there is another airline included in the itinerary, the maximum permitted connecting time at transfer points is four hours.

If Dubai is the transfer point, the maximum permitted connecting time is eight hours. This is because we have a dedicated Emirates' Special Handling Unit that can take care of minors.

We cannot accept Unaccompanied Minors and Young Passengers for journeys with transfer connections involving either an overnight stay at a transfer point or a transfer between two airports at the connecting point, unless the parent or guardian has arranged for the child to be met and cared for at the transfer point (and these arrangements are confirmed by the local Emirates office) or if the minor is travelling with an adult escort.

Please note: the Emirates unaccompanied minor service is not available in conjunction with a 'child' discounted ticket; a full adult fare must be purchased. Please contact Emirates to book an unaccompanied minor, currently this cannot be completed online.

Children with special needs or requiring special attention may travel with us if accompanied by a fare-paying passenger who is eighteen years of age or older.

For safety and security reasons Emirates has the right to refuse travel if the applicable form (Declaration of Indemnity) is not fully completed, signed and submitted by the parent or guardian of the unaccompanied minor or young passenger as the case may be. This form is available from your local Emirates office.

The parent/guardian must remain at the airport until the flight has departed.

The parent/guardian collecting the unaccompanied minor at the airport must provide proof of identification.

This service is not available for codeshare flights not operated by Emirates. Please contact the airline operating your flight to find out more.

Conditions for travel to Canada

Please note that Air Canada does not accept Unaccompanied Minors from other airlines. This service may therefore be booked up to Toronto only (applicable to all classes).

Unaccompanied Minors must be picked up in Toronto by their parents/guardians.

Children travelling to Canada alone or with adults that have no legal custody over them are strongly advised to hold letter of travel consent signed by legal guardian or parent with legal custody. This letter should contain:
a. Authorisation to travel, and
b. Destination in Canada, stating length of stay, and
c. Signor’s address and telephone details.

Conditions for Italian minors travelling outside Italy

Minors up to and including the age of 13, who are Italian nationals travelling unaccompanied or with someone other than their parent or legal guardian (as identified in their passport), are subject to special requirements when travelling outside Italy.

They are required to carry with them authorisation (Dichiarazione di Affido) from the local police (Questura), or if their parents reside abroad, from an Italian embassy or consulate. The Dichiarazione di Affido cannot be issued by the airport police. Without this authorisation, they will not be permitted to leave Italy.

Please note that this restriction only applies to Italian nationals. Minors of other nationalities are unaffected.